LinuxSampler

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FAQ

Here is a collection of frequently asked questions. Please read them before asking on the mailing list.

linuxsampler? qsampler? libgig? liblscp? hu?

There are currently four subprojects in the LinuxSampler project; linuxsampler, qsampler, libgig and liblscp. linuxsampler is the core of the sampler, it includes the sampler engines and audio and MIDI drivers. linuxsampler itself is decoupled from any user interface. It offers a network server (LSCP server) to allow to be controlled by an arbitrary user frontend from an arbitrary place over a network connection or locally from the same machine as well. qsampler is the first GUI frontend written for linuxsampler, it is written with the Qt GUI library and thus can be compiled for various architectures and operating systems without modifications on the source code. libgig is a C++ library written for loading Gigasampler files and DLS Level 1 and 2 files. libgig is used by linuxsampler to load Gigasampler files and it can be used by qsampler to retrieve additional informations about Gigasampler files. liblscp is a C library written as a wrapper around the LSCP network protocol, thus to control linuxsampler. It was originally designed to be used on both sides, that is on server / backend side (linuxsampler) and on client / frontend side (e.g. qsampler). But it's now only used on client side by qsampler at the moment.

What do I need to compile and install?

You should compile and install at least libgig and linuxsampler. As a beginner you should definitely as well compile and install liblscp and qsampler. qsampler is a convenient GUI frontend for linuxsampler. qsampler depends on liblscp, so you have to compile and install liblscp before starting to build qsampler. The recommended order to compile and install is:

  1. libgig
  2. linuxsampler
  3. liblscp
  4. qsampler

How do I checkout from CVS?

The procedure of checking out the newest version from CVS is described on the Downloads site.

How do I compile from CVS?

The procedure for compiling from CVS is the same for all subprojects, that is no matter if you are compiling linuxsampler, qsampler, libgig or liblscp from CVS, you need to have the autotools (automake, autoconf and libtool) installed and compile it that way:

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make -f Makefile.cvs
./configure
make

Can I use linuxsampler without a GUI as well?

Yes, but unfortunately there is no console based frontend frontend for linuxsampler (yet). You have to write LSCP scripts and send it to the running linuxsampler application. You can send a LSCP script to linuxsampler on the console with the following command:

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cat yourscript.lscp | netcat -t localhost 8888

Of course you can also replace localhost by the IP address of the machine where linuxsampler is running. Alternatively you can also make a telnet connection (port 8888) to linuxsampler's LSCP server and type commands manually.

Are there example LSCP script files somewhere?

Yes, have a look on the Documentation site for some common LSCP script examples. For details about LSCP read the LSCP reference. Be welcome to ask questions for details about LSCP on the mailing list.

I get dropouts (click sounds, noise), what can I do about it?

In order to achieve good results under Linux you need to have a patched kernel. There are different patches available depending on what version (2.4.x or 2.6.x) of kernel you use. The JACK FAQ site is also a good resource how to configure a realtime stable kernel. But note; LinuxSampler currently has not support for libcap yet, that means if you are still using a 2.4.x Linux kernel you most probably have to run LinuxSampler with root priviliges (support for libcap is planned though). As a rule of thumb: if you don't get warnings like "cannot mlockall() memory" you are safe to run it as ordinary user as well.